


If You Should Lose Your Way, I'll Be Right There If You Call Out My Name

by senioritastyles



Series: Lynn's Fics [2]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, malum, side lashton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:18:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9467054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senioritastyles/pseuds/senioritastyles
Summary: Michael may or may not be slightly drunk right now and he also may or may not be standing in a thirty-plus person line to buy a three dollar helium balloon at this music festival. It's some hipster California Coachella wannabe thing that Luke dragged him to because his "totally heart eyes dreamboat" boy-toy Ashton is the drummer of some underground indie band that's playing on the smallest stage possible.Or: Michael spots Calum at a festival and is a little nervous to directly approach him so he finds another way to do it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [social_reject](https://archiveofourown.org/users/social_reject/gifts).



> (title is from Call Out My Name by Hanson)

Michael may or may not be slightly drunk right now and he also may or may not be standing in a thirty-plus person line to buy a three dollar helium balloon at this music festival. It's some hipster California Coachella wannabe thing that Luke dragged him to because his "totally heart eyes dreamboat" boy-toy Ashton is the drummer of some underground indie band that's playing on the smallest stage possible. Their set isn't for another hour and half and Luke's already ditched Michael in favor of chilling in the tour bus area with Ashton and a bunch of other bands no one has ever heard of. It's definitely not Michael's scene, not his type of music or even really the people he likes to be around, but he came mostly to make sure Luke didn't get drugged and/or stolen and sold on some black market whatever-the-fuck. Once Luke ditched him though, Michael started knocking back the beers and that's what led him here, now the next person in line to purchase a single balloon because why the fuck not? 

 

When it's finally his turn he steps up to the guy with the bright green glitter all over his sharp cheekbones and he requests the only red balloon left in the bunch. The guy nods and unties it, handing it off to Michael and accepting the money with a bored expression. Michael sighs and walks away feeling a little unsatisfied with the exchange, although he's not entirely sure what he expected to come of it. He's just drunker than he thought, probably, and he was expecting some sort of dramatically climatic moment from some floating red latex. He's only human, after all. His mindless ambling leads him to the back of a pretty large crowd, moving in slow swaying to the crooning voice on the stage, some people singing along softly. Michael gathers that this whole festival is really made for things like that, soft singing and calm dancing and the occasional jumping around to the more upbeat songs that have been few and far between, but he's not used to that. He's always been the moshpit, crowd surfing, head banging until your neck snaps in two kind of person and he's finding this whole thing sort of boring beyond all reason, although the music isn't bad. 

 

Michael decides that maybe people watching is his best bet at this point, especially since some of the characters around here are quite interesting to look at and wonder what made them do that to themselves—particularly the guy absolute covered head to toe in blue body paint with what looks like bikini bottoms on and nothing else. Michael's not here to judge of course, he'd just like to know exactly what made that outfit choice happen. He's scanning the crowd a little more when someone dressed normally actually manages to catch his eye. It's a guy with a darker complexion and super dark hair that looks like it was shaved off and has just started to grow back in, somewhere between the fuzzy and fluffy stage, and he's just wearing a plain white t-shirt with ripped blue skinny jeans that are cuffed at the bottom. He's got on black combat boots and a black "dad hat" too, all in all an outfit Michael would actually probably wear himself if he wasn’t such a stickler for black skinny jeans. What really catches Michael's eye is the boy himself, his beauty, the sharpness of his jawline and the fullness of his lips and the dark ink littering his hands and arms and the muscles rippling under the shirt that Michael can see even from at least twenty feet away. He's enticing to look at, standing there and watching the band Michael's consciously ignoring, and Michael feels a sort of pull to go and talk to him about....he's not exactly sure but it would definitely be about something and yeah okay, maybe he's a bit too drunk for this right now. 

 

He just can't shake the feeling that if he waits to talk to this boy he'll never be able to find him again and the band on stage is on their last song which means the thick crowd will be scattering soon and Michael doesn't want to lose this boy, he just wants to wait until he's not quite as incoherent, so he does the only thing he can think to do and he marches over there quietly. He's almost sneaking up, trying to go undetected by not only the boy but the people around him as he takes his three dollar red balloon and carefully ties the string in a tight knot around the top loop of the boy's black backpack. A few people give him curious looks but he just puts his finger up to his mouth with a smile and scurries off to sober himself up with some overpriced water so he can actually talk to the beautiful stranger before the day lets out. 

 

"Michael!" 

 

Michael whips around at the sound of his name before yelled in a voice as familiar to him as his own, finding Luke jogging over to him with deep reddish-purple marks on his neck that certainly weren't there before. By the looks of it Luke is already blushy and embarrassed enough by it that Michael doesn't need to add insult to injury (no matter how much he wants to, and god damn does he want to), so Michael skips the jab at Luke's sex life and chugs more of his water.

 

"What's up, lover boy?" Michael asks and okay, so he couldn't resist just a quick stab at it, sue him. 

 

Luke rolls his eyes like he doesn't care but his cheeks get a little redder. "Ashton's about to go on, come on." 

 

Michael sighs and pushes himself off of the flimsy booth wall he'd been leaning on, following Luke's quick pace toward the furthest stage from the one Michael was standing near. It takes a good five minutes to get there, weaving in and out of colorfully dressed and half naked people until they manage to find to find the one with Ashton's band's name draped down as the temporary backdrop for their set. The stagehands have already set everything up and Ashton is the first to come onto the stage, waving at the decent sized crowd as they cheer for him when he takes his seat behind the drumkit. Michael watches with halfway interest as the rest of the band joins him and starts up a beat, the beginning to a song Michael's heard Luke play on the burned CD Ashton gave him a few months ago. Michael's proud to say he knows the words to this one, it being Luke's favorite song of the maybe seven the band has so far, and he's actually pretty ecstatic that he can sing along quietly since the whole day has just been filled with shit he's never heard of before. Luke's grin is huge as he watches Ashton drum the slightly sultry beat, too preoccupied with watching to even sing along really, and Michael feels maybe just a little bit douchey for complaining to Luke about coming to this because Luke is his best friend in the world and he's done more than his fair share of following Michael around to concerts and parties and peeling him off the floors and the occasional countertop and it wouldn't kill Michael to be happy that Luke's found a great guy to be with. 

 

"He's really good, you know." Michael admits, and it's the first time he's ever said something positive about Ashton's music and his band—although he's never been negative about it either, just passive. 

 

Luke looks shocked to say the least, so much so that he actually takes his eyes off of Ashton in favor of looking over at Michael. "You really mean that?" 

 

Michael kind of hates the way Luke says that, like Michael's opinion on it is the end-all-be-all about whether or not it's good music and while Michael knows he's pretty vocal about what he does and doesn't like (and while he's not always nice about the latter), he never meant to make Luke feel like he couldn't like something different and that's exactly what Luke's tone suggests he's done. "Yeah, I really do, Luke. Honestly. It's good." 

 

Luke goes back to smiling like the fucking sun and he even grabs Michael's hand as the song ends and a new one starts up, the lead singer shouting a greeting to the crowd over top of the beginning drum beat. Michael's chest feels a little lighter now that Luke doesn't look so worried that Michael might decide to just drag them both out of here, and he keeps the grip on Luke's hand as the set goes on. He finds it quite adorable that his best friend can't seem to sit still, can't seem to stay quiet during every single song, hopping around and finally managing to balance singing along and watching Ashton, squealing whenever a part comes where Ashton gets to sing a quick solo line or a harmony with the lead singer. Before Michael knows it the last song is starting and the sun is setting a fiery orange right behind the stage and he's dancing around with Luke when he sees a red balloon bobbing up and down through the middle of the crowd right in front of them. Michael's breath catches a little, having sort of forgotten about the stranger he'd wanted to talk to earlier. 

 

"Luke, I'll be right back, okay?" Michael half shouts, watching Luke nod with a curious look before he's speed walking towards the moving balloon. 

 

Michael is staring upward as he walks, keeping an eye on the red as he pushes and surges his way through the mass of people around him. He can see the stranger just ahead of him, standing still in a small clearing between crowds with two other people, and he's determined to get to him before he moves away again. He's just a few feet from the break in the crowd when the stranger turns his head and seemingly catches sight of the balloon, his dark eyebrows furrowing and creasing his forehead with confusion. Frankly, Michael's not sure how the boy hadn't noticed before now but it's obvious that the presence of the balloon is news to the stranger as he tugs on the string and pulls the balloon down towards his face, examining it for something before turning his head this way and that, clearly looking for whoever put it there. Michael emerges at the perfect time, making eye contact with the boy as he breathlessly marches over. 

 

"Uh, is this your balloon?" The boy asks, straightforward and before Michael can even get a single word in. 

 

Michael blushes just a little bit. "Uhm, yeah, I tied it there so I wouldn't lose you." 

 

"Lose me?" 

 

"Yeah, I....I was a little drunk earlier and I saw you and I wanted to talk to you because you're really gorgeous but I was afraid I would make a fool of myself so I wanted to wait until I was sober enough to make sense but then I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find you again so I tied my balloon on your bag." Michael explains in one breath, trying to get it all out before this boy decides he's a creep and just walks away. 

 

Instead, the boy giggles and it's the most beautiful laugh Michael has ever had the privilege of causing. "That's adorable." 

 

"I....it is?" Michael wonders, tilting his head to the side as the boy nods. 

 

"Yeah, very. And creative as well." 

 

Michael chuckles, a little breathless with the way the fading light illuminates Calum's sweet eyes and makes them sparkle when he smiles. "Drunk me is quite resourceful when he wants something." He says with a shrug, scuffing his boots against the trampled grass. "I'm Michael, by the way." 

 

"Calum." The boy says, smiling as he reaches around to grab his backpack and fish around in the zippered front pocket, producing a black marker and grabbing Michael's arm, writing down his phone number and drawing a little balloon next to it. "How about next time you lose me, you just call me instead?" 

 

Michael blinks up at Calum and nods, awestruck by the way the quickly approaching night sky seems to find a home in Calum's soft smile. "Yeah, of course." 

 

Calum's smile gets a little stronger at Michael's response and he leans in, his lips brushing Michael's cheek before he backs away and turns around, disappearing mostly from sight but Michael can still see the bobbing red balloon as it retreats through the crowd. He yanks his phone from his back jeans pocket and quickly puts Calum's number in it, saving it with a red balloon emoji next to his name before opening up a message to him. He debates for longer than he probably should on what to say, whether he should just mention that it's Michael or if he should ask Calum out or if that's too much for right now. With the kiss still tingling on his cheek he settles on just typing the red balloon emoji and hitting send before he can overthink it anymore, deciding that it's probably a good way to tell Calum it's him without actually having to say it in some clumsy and awkward way. He's about to lock his phone and put it back in his pocket and go find Luke when there's a short vibration and the dimming screen lights back up again. Below his sent red balloon is a received red balloon, his smile ridiculously wide when another message comes through and it's a selfie of Calum in barely any light, holding the balloon right next to his face and a toothy grin on his face. Michael saves it and sets it as Calum's contact picture when the phone buzzes with another message, this time an address in downtown Sydney. Michael is confused, about to ask what that is when Calum sends one more message that simply reads, "meet me there tomorrow night at 6". Michael's not sure he ever agreed to anything faster in his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings fellow earthlings, I am here today to give you a smol Malum fic based on a post I saw on tumblr. I sent the picture to Lynn and we screamed about how Malum it was together and so I obviously had to write it for her since she's Malum af all the time and I love her to pieces. This is basically just a really cute AU thing and I hope it didn't suck and I'm sorry it's super short but school has started back up and I have a lot of classes that require me to focus since they're subjects I'm literally shit at so I can't really spend as much time as I'd like writing for you guys. Enough with my excuses though, I just hope you enjoyed this and please leave some comments and feedback below and I love you all very very much<3
> 
>  
> 
> tumblr: senioritastyles & babyhemhem  
> twitter: xtraceex  
> instagram: traceethekid  
> snapchat: youngtray


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